The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) today voted 5-0 in favor of clarifying California net metering policies in favor of the solar industry, homeowners, and California jobs.
The decision clarifies calculation of the state’s five-percent net metering cap, which allows customers to earn credit for selling excess solar electricity they produce back to the grid.
“This decision is a positive step forward for clean energy jobs, for ratepayers, and for our state,” Sara Birmingham, SEIA’s Director of Western States, stated following the vote.
“The commissioners noted that there is wide disagreement on the issues related to the cost shift between solar and non-solar customers. SEIA looks forward to working with stakeholders on the study of costs and benefits, and believes the study will report these costs as minimal.”
There are remaining technical issues remaining and SEIA is looking to the CPUC to resolve those in the future as well. In particular, it seems that the costs and benefits created by decentralized solar power need to be nailed down more clearly.
Overall, though, the news of the day is that millions of people have benefited from the CPUC’s clear decision.
“On behalf of the solar industry, residential customers, schools, businesses and more than 60,000 Californians who urged the PUC to make solar energy credits more widely available and to boost one of our brightest job-creating industries, we thank the Governor and the Commissioners for their support today.”
For more info on net metering, check out: Net Metering 101. For starters, here’s a video from that page:
I don't like paywalls. You don't like paywalls. Who likes paywalls? Here at CleanTechnica, we implemented a limited paywall for a while, but it always felt wrong — and it was always tough to decide what we should put behind there. In theory, your most exclusive and best content goes behind a paywall. But then fewer people read it! We just don't like paywalls, and so we've decided to ditch ours. Unfortunately, the media business is still a tough, cut-throat business with tiny margins. It's a never-ending Olympic challenge to stay above water or even perhaps — gasp — grow. So ...
Sign up for daily news updates from CleanTechnica on email. Or follow us on Google News!
Have a tip for CleanTechnica, want to advertise, or want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? Contact us here.
